NEW BEDFORD — An 83-year-old Portuguese club has lost its control of one of the city's few soccer fields after the Park Board voted to strip the club of exclusive rights, setting up a possible fight with the City Council.

NATALIE SHERMAN

NEW BEDFORD — An 83-year-old Portuguese club has lost its control of one of the city's few soccer fields after the Park Board voted to strip the club of exclusive rights, setting up a possible fight with the City Council.

Park Board members voted in September to give exclusive rights to the field on Morton Avenue to the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, saying the Club Recordacoes de Portugal Inc. had not properly maintained it and no longer offered a youth league.

"Club Rex was not living up to the expectations," said Park Board Chairman Peter Boswell, pointing to the patchy condition of the field and repairs to locks and the concession stand that remained undone despite repeated requests.

The club was using the field primarily for cookouts, he said.

"They never did anything that was required of them to get the exclusive rights agreement, and they were breaking city laws by drinking on a public field," he said.

Club Rex has controlled the Morton Avenue field since 1997, when the City Council recommended the city grant the club a long-term lease because it had surrendered property on Sawyer Street to the Environmental Protection Agency for a processing facility.

Treasurer Avelino Sequeira said the 500-member club installed the field's sprinkler system and built a shed on the property, maintaining it as much as possible within its limited means.

"The city is complaining we didn't take care of the field, but we did what we could," he said. He said the club obtained permits for its cookouts and could not help it if vandalism occurred.

"Why are they going to take a field from the Portuguese community? Where are we going to play? ... We don't have that many fields around to use," he said. "I would like it if they let us keep the field and if the city could help us take care of the field, that would be nice."

Leonard Sylvia, athletic director at Voc-Tech, whose JV and freshman soccer teams have also used the field for about five years, said the school did not seek a new arrangement, but it had been frustrated by the club's failure to keep up the field.

The change will give his grounds crews easier access and allow them to make sure teams don't ruin the field by using it in the rain, he said.

"Right now, there's a mud hole in the middle of the field. There's no grass whatsoever," he said. "We're just looking for a place for our kids to play."

The Park Board grants exclusive rights to city fields to about eight private leagues, including soccer, baseball and football, per year, said Boswell. In exchange, the leagues are expected to perform upkeep. As of 2011, leagues must reapply every year, he said.

"It allows them to maintain a schedule for games and practice and it takes a lot of pressure off the Parks Department workers for maintaining the fields," he said.

Access to the other city fields and basketball courts is managed through a permitting process run by the Parks & Recreation Department.

On Oct. 11, the City Council formally asked for a meeting with Club Rex, Voc-Tech, the Park Board and the city solicitor.

At-Large Councilor David Alves said he hopes an agreement could be put in place that split responsibilities between Voc-Tech and the club.

"I'm looking to see it given back to Club Rex," Alves said. "I just want to have something more formal in place so there aren't these kinds of misunderstandings."

At this point, the field is too run down to be used and needs to be completely re-seeded, Boswell said. Voc-Tech offered to put between $10,000 and $20,000 worth of work into the field, he said.

"I would hate to see an opportunity like this with Voc, which is very well-established in the city, get passed up," he said.